“More than two months I live without social networks.” Where did Volkov disappear and can Taktarov be in his corner

Volkov’s opponent will be his UFC-ranked neighbor Jairzinho Rozenstruik (12-3 in MMA). Volkov – No. 7, Rozenstruik – No. 8. The nuance is that Volkov unexpectedly lost his previous fight and it seemed to many that the Russian needed a break to restart. Volkov himself gave only one interview after the defeat and said almost nothing about himself.

— After the last fight, you had 0 messages on social networks. Why are you so closed?

– It’s not related to the fight against Aspinall, it’s related to the current situation in the world. I thought my posts were more entertaining. I try not only to publish posts about how I trained, but to record funny videos or write interesting texts. And now, it seems to me, is not the best time for such messages. From my inner feelings, I feel it’s not very right to do this. When it’s all over, maybe I’ll start over, but for now I have [популярная социальная сеть] and YouTube is on hiatus for a while.

– Where you train, it was only possible to understand from two posts from other people. Maxim Dedik posted a photo with you from Kislovodsk and Kenny Johnson from California. You told us in an interview that this is how you planned your training.

– Yes, everything went as planned: I was in Kislovodsk for three weeks, I spent a week in Moscow, and now I am in America. I came alone, without my coaches from Russia, because no one could get a visa for this fight. In the United States, he trained with Tiki Gon (a former MMA fighter with a 10-7 record) and with Kenny Johnson.

– In this tournament, Oleg Taktarov will support Rinat Fakhretdinov, while he wanted to help you in the corner during the fight for a very long time. Do you plan to call him second, since he’ll be in the same room as you?

“I haven’t seen it here yet, but maybe if we see each other we’ll talk and hear each other in character, so why not. I haven’t really thought about it yet, to be honest. Everything seems to be in order with me with the turns, we train with them, they understand what form I am in, what I can do, what I can’t. There is a common understanding. Everything seems to be going well.

– You will have the fourth fight in a year, and already in the last fight many said that you simply failed to connect. Is it possible to be sure that with such frequency of fights you will be able to connect now.

– It’s hard to say. I hope I will be charged and full of strength, because after all the situation is different, the opponents are different. In the previous fight, however, there were psychological difficulties, but I would not like to make excuses, I was in good shape physically, but psychologically I did not come out of it. It happens, we are ordinary people, I am also an ordinary person, like everyone else. I feel emotions, feelings, some kind of excitement, certain thoughts appear in my head. It’s a little distracting from combat and preparation. There are people who are more receptive, there are people who are less receptive, it turns out that I am a little more receptive than the other fighters. Now I seem to be in good shape and I feel good, my mood is good, I want to fight.

Four fights in a year, it’s not that much, but I recognize that I accepted the fight rather quickly. I just felt like I was in normal shape, and after the last fight I didn’t stop in preparation. Came to Russia and returned to the room.

– You had an interview after the fight with Aspinall, you said there that a certain kickboxer who focused on pop MMA would help you. I only realized who it was at the Omsk tournament, when Islam Karimov said he was your training partner. But Karimov lost by boxing rules to MMA fighter Mikhail Mokhnatkin. Don’t you think that’s still not Jairzinho Rozenstruik’s level?

– Islam is bigger and heavier, but, in principle, he’s a pretty strong guy and a very good drummer, similar in style [на Розенстрейка]. Maybe he lacks stamina somewhere, but overall he’s been boxing and kickboxing his whole life. And he has a very similar style, he can explode, attack, kick, he has powerful punches, so you could say he’s my key training partner. I was surprised that he competed in Omsk, as we had just returned from Kislovodsk and were working more on MMA. But he fought pretty well, considering he didn’t prepare for boxing and went out on short notice. And in fact, when we practiced, I often hit not with my hands, but with my legs, like him.

Also, I fought in a slightly different format: two and a half minutes with each opponent, and Islam went all the way when I was a little tired. And the load with him was enough for me.

– Did you train with anyone in the United States?

– In America, I no longer sparred, here I worked mainly on the legs and did physical labor. Worked on legs with Tiki, struggled a bit, but didn’t fight anymore. I went through acclimatization, got fit after the flight, because the flight was quite difficult, I flew 7 hours to Dubai and from Dubai 17 hours to USA.

“Business class?”

– Yes.

– You came out on the 2517 song “Winter-Mama”, but in the last fight in London you changed it to “Mom, we’re all seriously sick” from the same group. What song are you going to release now?

– Most likely, I will go to the track where I went in London. So far, I think the old track is a bit off due to the situation in the world. I don’t want anyone to see this as a provocation.

– Rozenstruik suffered a terrible injury in a fight with Alistair Overeem, tore his upper lip, and this photo became very popular on the Internet. Do things like that even catch you somehow when you’re a professional fighter yourself and have to fight someone who can punch so hard?

– No, they don’t cling. Anything can happen at any time. In 12 years of career, I got used to it. I understand that any opponent can strike and inflict some kind of injury. But precisely the next opponent does not scare me.

– You and your team noticed that in the comments on the Internet they write a lot of unpleasant words to you. It seemed to me that, one, you’re paying too much attention to it, and two, maybe it’s a smaller part of your audience. Most of them are very warmly disposed towards you, they just do not write about it on the Internet.

– This is of course the case, and I understand that the majority support me. And even when I meet people in my life, they support me. It’s just that the Internet is conducive to the fact that there are people who write unbiased things. I can’t say that it hurts me or touches me a lot, but a general background is created. And the general context is often negative. And even with my brain, I understand that the majority supports me adequately, but since people who write unpleasant things are more active, they draw attention to themselves. And you start wondering if it’s worth saying or posting something or not. But now, I haven’t posted anything for more than two months, I live without YouTube and without social networks, and everything is fine. Now everyone supports and gets sick.